Magnesium element Critical Material
Magnesium (Mg), the chemical element. The named magnesium commodity in the US 2025 list is mapped to this element; its designation is not inherited by every magnesium mineral. The experiment concerns magnesium-containing mineral transformation, not production of elemental magnesium metal.
Identifiers & Classification
| System | Identifier | Label |
|---|---|---|
| CHEBI |
CHEBI:25107
|
magnesium atom |
Criticality Designations
| Jurisdiction | List Name | Edition / Document | Classification | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | US Geological Survey Final List of Critical Minerals | 2025 final, published 7 November 2025 | critical |
us_2025
|
Microbial & Biochemical Mechanisms (1)
Magnesium oxalate formation during fungal mineral transformation
biomineralization
Microbial
Associated Organisms:
Aspergillus niger ATCC 1015 (NCBITaxon:380704)
Aspergillus niger ATCC 1015 formed magnesium oxalate dihydrate (glushinskite) during growth with magnesium ammonium phosphate feeds.
Experimental Context & Analytical Limits:
Laboratory malt extract agar contained 1% w/v natural struvite from a Veolia wastewater site in Exeter, UK, or synthetic feed identified by XRD as dittmarite (MgNH4PO4.H2O), despite the paper's synthetic struvite terminology. Colonies grew from 5-mm mycelial plugs over cellophane for seven days at 25 degrees C in darkness. Crystals were extracted from agar with hot water, washed and dried before analysis.
Laboratory malt extract agar contained 1% w/v natural struvite from a Veolia wastewater site in Exeter, UK, or synthetic feed identified by XRD as dittmarite (MgNH4PO4.H2O), despite the paper's synthetic struvite terminology. Colonies grew from 5-mm mycelial plugs over cellophane for seven days at 25 degrees C in darkness. Crystals were extracted from agar with hot water, washed and dried before analysis.
Curated Evidence Points:
Support
Source:
suyamud_2020
Figures 3-5 show crystals beneath colonies, Mg/C/O by EDXA, and XRD patterns assigned to magnesium oxalate dihydrate in both feed treatments, compared with struvite and dittmarite controls. Figure 5 reports representative patterns from at least three determinations. Table 2 documents accompanying acidification.
Partial
Source:
suyamud_2020
Mineral-free fungal and feed controls do not isolate oxalate's causal contribution from acidification with a chemistry-matched comparison. Phase identification establishes formation, not an isolated magnesium recovery yield or industrial deployment.
Sources & References
-
chebi_magnesium: ChEBI:25107 - magnesium atom; formula Mg, net charge zero
https://www.ebi.ac.uk/chebi/CHEBI:25107 (accessed 2026-10-11) -
us_2025: US Department of the Interior, US Geological Survey. Final 2025 List of Critical Minerals, Federal Register 90 FR 50494-50497, 7 November 2025, document 2025-19813; Magnesium row.
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2025-11-07/html/2025-19813.htm (accessed 2026-10-11) -
suyamud_2020: Suyamud, Ferrier, Csetenyi, Inthorn and Gadd (2020). Biotransformation of struvite by Aspergillus niger: phosphate release and magnesium biomineralization as glushinskite. Environmental Microbiology 22(4):1588-1602. DOI 10.1111/1462-2920.14949; Figures 3-5, Table 2 and Experimental procedures, solid-medium experiment.
https://doi.org/10.1111/1462-2920.14949 (accessed 2026-10-11) -
ncbi_atcc1015: NCBI Taxonomy 380704 - Aspergillus niger ATCC 1015, strain entry
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Taxonomy/Browser/wwwtax.cgi?id=380704&mode=Info (accessed 2026-10-11)
Curation History
| Timestamp | Curator | Action | Summary |
|---|---|---|---|
2026-10-11T05:16:51Z |
Codex (GPT-6; Codex) | CREATE | Curated verified element and list identity with a phase-resolved, bounded fungal magnesium oxalate experiment. |
Record source: data/records/magnesium.yaml